This disclosure relates generally to reproducing images on electronic display devices. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this disclosure relates to reproducing images on high dynamic range (HDR) electronic display devices that are often connected to and/or integrated within a variety of electronic devices that include, but are not limited to mobile phones, tablet computer systems, laptop computer systems, televisions, and display monitors.
Today's electronic display devices are typically connected to and/or embedded within a wide variety of electronic applications, such as computer monitors, televisions, instrument panels, signage, gaming devices, clocks, watches, and mobile electronic devices. One common type of electronic display device is a liquid crystal display (LCD) that typically displays visual images to a viewer by modulating the intensity of light emitted from a light source. Although the use of LCDs continues to spread in popularity, LCDs, however, suffer from to a variety of technological challenges. For instance, a typical single panel LCD may have a limited dynamic range (e.g., about 1000:1) that adversely affects a viewer's perceived image quality when viewing images on the LCD. In particular, the single panel LCD may suffer from a reduction in the number of gray levels the LCD is able to reproduce and may also impair the visibility of dark areas of an image.
One approach to improve a LCD's dynamic range is to implement a dual layer LCD. A dual layer LCD is able to improve the black level of an LCD by stacking two liquid crystal panels in a series configuration. In comparison to a single panel LCD, a dual layer LCD is able to produce a more accurate grayscale by modulating the light from a light source twice. Even though dual layer LCDs improve an electronic display device's grayscale, dual layer LCDs may also experience other implementation and technological challenges. For instance, the distances from the two liquid crystal panels can cause parallax problems when a viewer observes the LCD off-axis. Additionally, while a dual layer LCD permits darker black colors, the dual layer LCD may be unable to display a wide variety of other saturated dark colors (e.g., non-black dark colors) in a display's color gamut. As such, improving the gamut size and minimizing parallax errors may be beneficial in enhancing a viewer's perceived image quality when displaying images on electronic display devices.